Smart Communications partners with Huawei to build 5G indoor system

Philippine-based Smart Communications (Smart), the wireless subsidiary of digital solutions provider PLDT, is building a digital indoor system (DIS) in collaboration with Huawei to support the evolution to 5G at its Makati-based headquarters.

Smart Tower, a 36 -tory skyscraper in the heart of Makati, will deploy a digital indoor system to provide a 5G-enabled workplace and user experience for the company’s tech-based workforce, which relies on network capacity and data services to fulfill needs at the company’s headquarters and on-site innovation lab focused on next-generation technology and use cases.

“Boosting our indoor coverage is part of the broader network improvement program of PLDT and Smart, which is focused on creating the best customer experience especially for data. Improving indoor coverage is important because people use their data heavily while inside buildings,” stated Joachim Horn, chief technology and information advisor of PLDT and Smart.

The building’s current indoor networks supported by DAS is strained to provide needed capacity expansion due to reconstructions which are required to introduce multi-antenna solutions, a key component to 5G. The existing DAS also requires tremendous O&M efforts.

LampSite Pro, Huawei’s DIS-based solution, is capable of supporting higher capacity and multi-mode multi-band applications and E2E visualized O&M and will be deployed to improve coverage and provide a enhanced mobile broadband experience to end-users.

Data obtained from LampSite Pro’s DIS deployment in a major entertainment arena demonstrated significant uplink and downlink traffic increment by 100+%, indicating an efficient release of long-suppressed traffic. The downlink rate at the user end was constant even with the increase of user traffic, with a peak data rate of 300+Mbps recorded, showing a significantly improved user experience.

The digital indoor system has the capability to evolve into future-oriented 5G networks without the need for additional cabling and support eMBB, uRLLC and eMTC use cases, the company says.

Huawei also performed its first 5G network test at MWC 2019 earlier this month using its 5G LampSite Pro and a 5G CPE Pro modem designed for indoor network coverage. The live results reached a downlink rate of over 1 Gbps, with 100 megahertz of bandwidth and 4T4R.

The 5G LampSite Pro, which has already been deployed at the Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station in China and other locations, is a viable 5G connectivity solution for high-density device locations such as airports, railway stations, stadiums, shopping malls, subways, and campuses with 5G connectivity.